PORTSMOUTH — Some years, the end-of-season highlight reel is a parade of long runs and dazzling catches.

This year, for the Portsmouth High School football team, you could run a repeating loop of defensive tackle Rick Holt disrupting blocking schemes, the scoreboard indicating another second-and-long, and the opposing coach shaking his head and consulting his play chart.

Mix in an occasional offensive touchdown and a shot of an injured player on crutches, and the current Clippers’ season would be summed up pretty good.

Live or on tape, this year, it’s been Holt’s show.

“One of the best quotes I’ve heard,” said Portsmouth defensive coach Russ Russo, “came from one of the Dover coaches we talk to: ‘Rick Holt plays defense like his hair’s on fire.’ His motor on defense is just non-stop.”

One of the great football careers in recent Portsmouth history has two games to go. The big one is Saturday, when the third-seeded Clippers (8-2) try to successfully defend last year’s Division III championship against No. 4 Goffstown (6-5).

It’s a rematch of a Sept. 30 game here, won by the Clippers going away, 56-22.

“Holt is phenomenal,” said Goffstown coach Justin Hufft. “I’ve not seen a guy dominate defensively like he does in years. He’s so big and strong and athletic, and he’s got good football instincts. You’d like to be able to find a weakness but I haven’t found any.”

The Clippers will also play Division II Dover in their annual Thanksgiving Day game on Nov. 22.

A varsity player since late in his freshman year, the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Holt, who also starts at tackle on offense, has been healthy all season, and it’s showed in his play. Last year, he cut his heel on a boat propeller before training camp and then sprained his knee in Week 9.

“I think I’ve done pretty good, better than last year,” he said. “(The injury) kind of lingered the whole year. This summer was really the first time that the heel stopped hurting, the knee felt good and I just played like I played my sophomore year. And now, I’m bigger and stronger than I was my sophomore year.”

“His maturity is much better, his skill level is much better, his leadership is much better,” said Portsmouth coach Bill Murphy. “He’s grown into the role of being a team leader.”

In last week’s 7-0 semifinal win at Milford, Holt lined up as both a defensive tackle and nose guard, and played a huge role in disrupting an attack that had burned his team, 24-6, back in Week 9. The Clippers allowed just 118 yards of offense.

“He came to play, for sure, not that he hadn’t on the other ones,” said Murphy. “He was super psyched-up. If they came near him they weren’t going anywhere.”

“A safety would have won that game,” said Russo.

This is the fourth straight Division III championship game for Holt and fifth straight for the Clippers. Holt also played on Division II championship baseball teams at Portsmouth, and was a part of that program’s national-best 89-game win streak.

“He’s used to championship teams but you wouldn’t know about it,” said Russo. “He’s a lunch-pail guy.”

The question now is where he’s going to take that lunch-pail next year.

As Holt’s terrific senior season has gone on, his recruiting interest has increased, too. The next level for him seems to be shaping up to be the Division I FCS level, with schools like UNH, Maine, Rhode Island, Marist, Holy Cross and Fordham all showing some interest.

With a 3.6 grade-point average, he’s opened himself up to a lot of opportunities. He plans to make a decision sometime this winter.

“It’s picked up,” he said. “I went to a few camps this summer and now I’ve gotten a lot of interest from a lot of different schools, from (FCS) like UNH to D-II to a couple of D-III teams. It’s still ongoing. … I’d like to play I-AA simply because I’d like to challenge myself and play at the highest level I’m able to play at.”

The last Portsmouth High School player to play Division I football was Rod Walker, a standout running back who walked on at UNH, and eventually earned a scholarship and landed a starting job at string safety. He wrapped up his career at UNH last fall.

The top pitcher on the school’s baseball team, Holt will focus his winter on strength and conditioning.

“I stopped playing basketball at the end of my sophomore year. I pretty much just worked out that whole winter all the way up until March, when baseball started,” said Holt. “This year I’m probably going to try to do the same thing — try to get stronger and faster. … College is a whole other thing. Those guys are in the weight room all the time getting better.”

For Holt, that’s a process that started more than three years ago.

“At Portsmouth High School, freshmen play freshman football,” said Russo. “We’ve had a few kids that we think can make an impact and bring up at the end.

“When Ricky was a freshman, we put him in against Souhegan (in the Division III championship). He went right up against (2009 Player of the Year Steven) Jellison and I think Jellison was frustrated; he gave a kick at him. This has been building for Ricky.”